Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-06-09
PERSONAL LIBERTY.

Mrs. III. y. Reed.
This is favorite plea with certain
class, and when an effort is made to as
sist man in cultivatlng his morals OF
his manhood, when friend tries to OPP.
en- his eyes concerning the power that
holds him in bondage, it is resented as
"an infringement upon his most sacred
rights" to do as he pleases.
1t has been argued again and again
that if a man chooses to get drunk OIL
play the fool, it is nobody's business
and temperance people are denounced
interfering with other peoples affairs,
and admonished to let the whisky traf
fic alone. Personal liberty uncontroll-
ed by moral restraint is simply license
for crime. When the liquor interest
poses as the champion oil freedom it is
perhaps, the finest sarcasm the world
has ever seen. What, for instance, las
the Brewers Congress ever done foI
liberty? Has it ever erected a college
to free men from the bondags of igno.
rance? Has il ever endowed an orphan
asylum to free children from the task.
master of poverty? Has it ever found.
ed hospital to free men from the hand
of disease? In short, has it ever done
anything which has in any way bene.
flied mankind?
Men sometimes dri:ik for the purpose
of showing their comrades that they
are not influenced by anybody else
They won't give up their personal
liberty" not bit of it. The right to
play the fool is a blessing Of untold
value. In the state of Indiana some
time since an effort was made to pass
a prohibitory law and the rallying cry
of the opposition was, personal liber-
ty;;" indeed, it was the only argument
presented except the logic of appetite
Perhaps tie most amusing specimens
of literature in the campaign was a
speech delivered before the state con-
vention by William English.
Alter few preliminary remarks III
favor of his party and principles, and
the usual illusions to the corruption OF
those Who chose to vote any 9th er ticket,
he launched into 4th of July eulogy
upon that liberty for which our ances-
tors fought the battles of the Revo!u-
ton, etc. The good people of Indiana
learned with establishment that our
forefathers fought to bequeath to their
posterity the blessed privilege of get
ting drunk when they pleased. The
gentleman urged that we would be un-
worthy sons of such ancestors, if we
did not frown upon the first dawning
of any attempt to 'deprive our country
men of these their sacred, blood-pur-
chased liberties. Here is new page
i'm history. How foolish the American
people have been to suppose that tax
alton without representation, was the
cause of the long struggle which, ac-
cording to Mr.. English, was fought to
confer upon the newborn nation the
blessed privilege of filling her sons
with a poor article of whisky. Listen
to the following eloquent passage:
" These liberties are formidable to
tyrants only. They are dear to every
human being who appreciates what Il
priceless boon it is to the free; they are
TOO sacred 10 be haZarded by the pas
sage of a radical, destructive prohibit
lion measure that would strike down
81 eat property interests, and invoke the
most sacred of human rights"
The man who claims that our fore
fathers fought the Revolutionary war
i'm favor of the whisky interest, ought
to be haunted by the ghosts of Bunker
Hill. If dead men were in the habit OF
interfering with the politics of their
demoralized progency, they would
make lively nights for the defeated
No clause in the Declare
ton of Independence states that life.
liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
consists in getting drunk and whipping
one's wife. A man must very highly
his personal liberty" when
he surrenders himself helpless captive
to 1.-THE worm of the STILL" His free
dom lasts only until he inhales the
of the saloon; he will even
capitulate when he smells another
mans breath, and hurry around the
corner to surrender his manhood to
King Alcohol. personal liberty" is
perhaps the finest sarcasm in the Eng
lish language to denote the abject
bondage of the victims of the whisky
power. They live and drink, and work
and vote, at its bidding. They have
no violition of their own, their very
stomachs and brains and nerves are
held in its hands. mol
claims of home or wife or child can be
for a moment considered with the
tyrant's demand on the other side.
M. Darmody Mt the Brown Farm has a